The following documents are made of record: U.S. Design Pat. D486,512; U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,624; U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,259; and TN9 Infrared Thermometer Module User Manual, Rev. Jul. 20, 2004, Zy Temp, Taiwan, R.O.C; and MLX90614 family Single and Dual Zone Infra Red Thermometer in TO-39, pages 1 through 35, Aug. 14, 2006 Microelectronics Integrated Systems E-Mail: Sales_usa@melexis.com.
It is known in the food industry to provide time and date coding of perishable items. Items on store shelves typically cannot be sold after their expiration dates and are to be discarded. Providing and updating labels on items so that the label reflects the proper expiration date, however, can be a time consuming task. The task of providing an accurate expiration date is made more difficult when faced with products that may be stored at temperatures other than expected or intended or that may include variations in ingredients.
The taking of the temperature of food products is known.
The provision of a hand-held portable printer applicator having a bar code scanner and a thermometer capable of taking the temperature of products to print a label with the temperature of a product recorded thereon was conceived by a party other than applicant.